Cooler weather seen in next few days

MANILA, Philippines - The country can expect slightly cooler temperatures in the next three days due to the prevailing tail end of a cold front.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said yesterday that the cold front would prevail over the country in the next few days, bringing partly cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers over northern and central Luzon.

Pagasa weather forecaster Bernie de Leon said the cold front also induced light rains over some parts of Metro Manila yesterday, bringing some respite after days of scorching heat.

De Leon, however, said the rains did not help much since recorded maximum temperature in the metropolis still remained at a high 35.6 degrees Celsius.

De Leon said temperature in Metro Manila would range from 27 to 35 degrees Celsius in the coming days due to the rains brought by the cold front.

“The rains were not enough to lower the temperature (in Metro Manila). But if the rains continue, we expect cooler temperatures in the coming days,” De Leon said.

De Leon said rains also fell over most of Mindanao due to the intertropical convergence zone prevailing in the region.

He added no weather disturbance is likely to enter the country in the next few days. 

Yesterday’s intermittent rains, however, failed to halt the decreasing water elevation at the Angat Dam in Bulacan.

Officials though remained optimistic that the water level at the dam would improve in the next few days as the rainy season approaches.

The water level at the Angat Dam dropped to 170 meters above sea level yesterday, just 12 meters from the lowest recorded water elevation in the dam’s history.

Records showed that in August 1998, water elevation at the dam dropped to 158 meters when the country experienced the El Niño phenomenon in early 1997.

“Water elevation at Angat Dam is hardly impacted by rains last week, but we are glad we are already experiencing some rain showers here,” said Rodolfo German, manager of the Angat River Hydro Electric Power Plant (Arhepp). – With Dino Balabo